The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team dropped a 5-2 match to league-leading ETSU in Southern Conference action at the UTC Tennis Center today.  The Mocs fall to 6-9 overall and 2-2 in league matches, while the Bucs moved to 5-0 in the conference and 8-6 overall.

The Mocs won the opening doubles point with wins at No. 3 and No. 1.  Junior Kaisei Kuroki and sophomore Kerim Hyatt opened with a 6-3 win over Thiago Pernas and Milo Bargeron at No. 3.  Sophomore Tomas Rodriguez and freshman Peyton Gatti clinched the point with a 6-3 win over Juan Lugo and Frazier Rengifo at No. 1.

"There were a lot of positives in this match with ETSU," stated head coach Chuck Merzbacher.  "We were playing for first place and it was a real tough college tennis battle out there."
 
The Mocs won the first set in three of the six singles, but the Bucs tied the score with a win at No. 5.  Freshman Jeffrey Dewald put UTC up 2-1 with a (7-5, 6-1) win over Miguel Este at No. 6. 
 
ETSU took a 3-2 lead with wins at No. 2 and No. 4, while the last two bouts were both in their third set.  The Bucs were able to take both of those points, clinching at No. 1 and closing out the day with a win at No. 3.   
 
"The doubles point was strong and we closed out the sets at 1 & 3 with dominant service games," added Merzbacher.  "The match comes down to a 2-3 score with Tomas and Kerim in the third set to get us the match. It was close."
 
UTC goes back out of conference on Monday with a trip to Belmont.  Match time is set for 1:00 p.m. (E.D.T.) in Nashville, Tenn.

ETSU 5, Chattanooga 2
4/2/2021 at Chattanooga, Tenn. (UTC Tennis Center)
Doubles competition
1. Tomas Rodriguez/Peyton Gatti (UTC) def. Juan Lugo/Frazier Rengifo (ETSU) 6-3
2. Dimitri Badra/Miguel Este (ETSU) def. Turner Voges/Simon Labbe (UTC) 6-4
3. Kerim Hyatt/Kaisei Kuroki (UTC) def. Thiago Pernas/Milo Bargeron (ETSU) 6-3

Singles competition
1. Dimitri Badra (ETSU) def. Tomas Rodriguez (UTC) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
2. Frazier Rengifo (ETSU) def. Turner Voges (UTC) 7-5, 6-2
3. Juan Lugo (ETSU) def. Kerim Hyatt (UTC) 5-7, 6-2, 6-1
4. Thiago Pernas (ETSU) def. Simon Labbe (UTC) 6-2, 6-4
5. Milo Bargeron (ETSU) def. Jacob Marshall (UTC) 6-2, 6-0
6. Jeffrey Dewald (UTC) def. Miguel Este (ETSU) 7-5, 6-1

Match Notes
ETSU 8-6, 5-0 SoCon
Chattanooga 6-9, 2-2 SoCon
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,6,4,2,1,3)
T-3:00